7 Reasons You Should Update Your Resume Right Now (Even If You’re Not Looking for a Job)

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Work is going well, and you have a job you enjoy with great
benefits. You feel like you have a future at this company. You
have no intention of moving on anytime soon. You’re in a good
place professionally, so you may never need to think about
revisiting your boring old resume ever again!

Unfortunately, that’s a myth. In fact, everyone should
review their resume and and keep it
up-to-date no matter where they are in their career.

If you haven’t revisited your resume for awhile, read on for
seven reasons why you should polish it this very moment:

1. Remind yourself of your skills and achievements

A resume isn’t just a list of job titles and how long you’ve
worked at various jobs. It’s a record of your body of work.

Your resume contains info about what you’ve learned, the skills you’ve developed and the differences
you’ve made in your career. Having a clear sense of your
journey will help you make smart short-term and long-term plans
for your career.

2. Give yourself a confidence boost

When you’re in the thick of day-to-day work, it’s easy to forget
how far you’ve come and in which areas you’ve developed.
By revisiting your accomplishments periodically, you’ll
better be able to track your own professional progress
and make sure the important ones make it to your resume.

If you update your resume just every few years or only when
you’re looking for a job, you might completely forget about new
skills because you mastered them so long ago. By keeping your
resume up-to-date, you can see how you’ve grown even from a few
months ago.

3. Understand yourself better

One of the keys to happiness, impact and career development is
understanding yourself. Your resume is the blueprint not only of
your skills and achievements, but also of your preferences,
passions and values. Every role you’ve ever had has been
a reflection of who you are.

You can learn from the jobs you loved, the ones you hated and
those that were just a bit “blah.”

Dig deep. Did you thrive in a particular type of environment? Did
you enjoy working in teams or independently? Did you thrive
working for innovative fast-changing organizations or
those that valued evolution and heritage?

Analyze what lit you up and has worked along your career path, as
well as what hasn’t worked. Use the information you
learn about yourself to tailor your own work towards your
preferences.

4. Reflect on your key lessons and identify development areas

Your key achievements happened for a reason. And so did your
mistakes. Have a look at your resume and think about which events
have been great teachers. What did you learn? How have you moved
forward with those learnings? What could you do to develop even
further?

5. Develop a clearer idea of your strengths

Research has shown that the more you work to your strengths,
skills and passions, the happier and more productive you are. In
other words, it’s not doing great work that brings you
happiness, but feeling happy that helps you do great
work. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

So, how have you worked toward your strengths in the past? How
can you do it more in the future? How can you consciously use
those strengths more often and in new ways?

6. See the thread that binds your body of work together

Resumes give you a high-level view of your career. Patterns start
to emerge that can give you new insights into your career and
where you might want to head in the future. Ask yourself what
thought processes led to you make those career choices. Would you
do anything differently?

7. Prepare yourself for the worst

The world of work has changed beyond recognition over the past 20
years. It’s a sad fact, but you never know when your
resume might come in handy. Having one that’s up-to-date
will help you hit the ground running if you ever do need to look
for alternative work.

If you have an updated resume you can send out quickly, you’ll
recover more quickly after a layoff and have less to stress
about. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, as the
saying goes.

Revisiting your resume can feel like a pain in the butt. It takes
time and requires that you reflect on your career journey. But it
doesn’t have to be so painful. The more frequently you update
your resume, the less work it really is. Plus, revisiting your
accomplishments will help you develop confidence and clearer
direction in your career.

Jo Casey is a trainer and coach who helps people find more
joy, passion and impact in their work. You can connect with Jo at
www.jocasey.com, where you can sign up for her free
“Work Happier Now” video course.